Just Wondering

Marriage is hard. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. 24/7 proximity and seeing close at hand each others faults makes the relationship difficult. In the old testament there was polygamy and concubines. I can't imagine a second wife, but most men will admit to being attracted to other woman and even having connections to women either at work or other places. Men have affairs all the time and I just wonder if God had no clear ordinance against keeping a concubine how many men would jump at the chance.

Throwing of Flags

Coming up with the idea of a blog called, "Faith Unfiltered" I thought would be a cool idea to create some provocative discussions. However, I am becoming increasingly discouraged with the idea that you can delve into any controversial issues with Christians that will not include the typical "talking points" that Christians recite whenever topics fall outside of their comfort zones.

Still I plan on moving forward, heeding the charge of a radio minister I like, knowing that it is the duty of a Christian to make time to offend another Christian at least once a day. His charge is perhaps hyperbole, yet I find so much truth in it that I often find that I have to call my "brothers and sisters of the faith" to the carpet when they think so pedestrian in their Christian world view.

Some examples of what I mean are found on my "Facebook" page, the postmodern community networking site that millions flock to as an escapists playground. It's a fun little place to do the tag, hide n' go seek thing, but some decide that what is needed are overactive referees to come in and make sure that everyone is playing nice and following the rules. Did you ever notice that when you are watching sports that the best games are the ones when you never notice the referees? Same is true of facebook. Let things play out and really think hard before you are going to throw the flag on someone.

Christians are the most guilty of throwing flags, and the penalty most called has to do with sexual suggestiveness. This does exists and arguments can be made that it is inappropriate to use sexual images over public sites to perhaps incite flirting or lustful behavior which could be harmful to some people. However, the guidelines of what constitutes inappropriate images of sexual images, can vary tremendously from person to person, and some folks never even consider if there may be a valid reason or context of why one may post a provocative photo of someone on a public social networking site.

Let me give you 2 recent examples of things that got me into "hot water" with some of my Christian friends. One even decided to "defriend" me over a photo on my facebook site. I had been on a blog site of a friend of mine that discusses the objective philosophy of Ayn Rand and how he is writing a book about Christian Objectivism and how those who "follow" the philosophy of Ayn Rand can have a conversation with Christians about objective worldviews and see where there is common ground. This is an interesting idea and ambitious since Rand was an atheist and many would not want to take the time to engage in debate with "Randians" who are clearly anti-religion and anti-Christian. But back to the main point. On his site was a link to a blog site about libertarian views of government (something that I am particularly interested in and one that I believe Ayn Rand was astute on as well) and I decide to click and check it out.

One little blurb (unrelated to the general theme of this site I may add) that caught my eye was a reference to the 50's pinup, "Betty Page" who had just passed away in her 80's. Because this happened right before Christmas, the author of the blog posted of photo of her in a Santa hat. She also was nude, though strategically covered, the words Merry Christmas posted across her breasts. Under the photo was a quote from Page with these words...I paraphrase since I don't have the quote at hand, "After turning to the Lord Jesus late in my life, I realize that the funds that I have to preserve me late in my life, are from my work as a model and pinup girl." She then went on to say that she doesn't feel particularly bad about it, rather it is just the way it is.

I posted this on my facebook page with the photo which I think was germain to the quote and left the comment, "Interesting!" People can have any opinion on her quote, comment on it or not, and that's just the way I left it. What happened however took me by surprise. A friend was highly offended by the photo, accused me of somehow endorsing Betty page, and even made it seem like I was out to harm "children." There was no looking at context of what I was getting at, I'm sure no reading of the quote, nor any questions directly to me of why I put it there. All I know is that some people at church heard about it, and she was no longer on my friend's list. Obviously, she hit the delete button on facebook, twitched her nose like "Samantha Stevens" on the 60's show, "Bewitched" and poof....I was gone. Oh, well, as my boss at work says, "I will live to see another day."

Now the most recent example and perhaps a little more complicated, though I don't really think so, is my posting of a picture of Helen Mirren on my site. Facebook allows you to become "fans" of celebrities and this is one way for people who visit your site to know some things about you and perhaps get a feel for your personality. I like the actress Helen Mirren and I posted a photo of her on my site. She is looking into a mirror, putting on make-up, and she has on a dress that shows substantial cleavage. For a caption I put, ..."like the finest of wine." With this I got a comment like, "yeah, this looks like ___(wife's name). "What are you thinking?" I take it this implies that I shouldn't be looking at anybody but my wife, and why am I posting sexy women on my page, which I guess by "the Christian definition" is as the valley girls would say, "totally inapproriate."

As a person who wants to be "real" I wish to let you in on a secret. I work with the public and see many people every day. I also see many women on a daily basis. Many guys I work with often say when they see an attractive woman, "Isn't she hot?" For years after my conversion to Christianity, I felt at a loss as how to respond to that. Looking back I don't know why because my sentiments were clearly, "yes." I guess I felt that as a single person, or married person for that matter, I shouldn't be looking at women for their physical appeal or heaven forbid, their t & a so to speak, but, you know what, I was. It would be nice to say that I only have eyes for my wife, bride of my youth, but it isn't the real world. Women get my attention and I do look at them. I agree that it's not good to have the cavalier attitude that, "you can look but not touch" philosophy that many men have. This potentially leads many to become disenchanted with their spouse, checking out all the babes, and lead them to have unrealistic expectations of what their wives should look like.

Back to Helen Mirren though. Over the years she has played many roles and has showed great diversity as an actress. Honestly though, I have been very attracted to her confidence in her own skin and her comfort level with her sexuality. I realize that "biblically speaking" women are most highly prized when they are "modest" in their sexuality....something that I have no evidence that Helen Mirren is. Then again I have no reason to believe she is a Christian or the woman of "noble character" spoken of in Proverbs 31. I conceed that this is the type of woman I should find most appealing and many times I find charm in other kinds of women. To this I plead guilty and Christians can chide or challange me on this poiint. However, I still find Mirren, at least as far as her feminine characteristics go, intoxicating. Here is a woman, now 63, who ages gracefully and doesn't do the cosmetic thing. If anyone would have told me that at 46, I would find a 63 year old woman "stunning and sexy" I would never have believed it. One publication called her, "the thinking man's sex symbol" which I find to be right on the mark. Forgive my lack of humility if I consider myself a thinking man...lol!

Mirren was a looker and sexy from her early films like "Age of Consent" and the scandalous "Caligula", and even as the 2nd law of thermodynamis applies to her as well as all of us as we advance in years, she remains a looker and sexy in her 60's, "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Jones" she was 59 I believe. She may have a wrinkle, two or three that she didn't have in her 20's or 30's, but like fine wine she surely ages well.

I can hold this view totally apart from my relationship with my wife. My wife is the one I am with day in and day out. We have the better for worse, sickness and in health covenant of marriage. Helen Mirren is an actress and my sentiments about her just tell you a little bit about me and how I think. Now if I go around stalking Helen Mirren or have photos of her as a shrine all over my house, then you as a Christian can do the Joan Rivers..."Can we talk" kinda thing. But unless these things are obvious and you are certain of context, please do me a favor. Be a good referee and stay out of the way. We need less throwing of flags and more of thoughtful conversation.

New Year's Day

Happy 2009 to everyone. Hope to post more often in the new year. Have to admit that right now my energy levels are low with the details of life. Got some things on my mind yet I just haven't been motivated to get moving on them.

Apocolyptic Madness

In just about a month we'll be having a change of administrations in the United States. I have to admit a sense of curiosity about where the Obama Administration will lead us over the next 4 years. Personally, I think Obama will be just another politician and whatever philosophy he has will play second fiddle to his desire to keep power and be reelected. Of course there are others who hope Obama will be a messiah type figure who can save America, bringing us out of the despair of the Bush years and into a time of hope. Good luck to that.

There are also those who actually think Obama is the anti-christ. Some, fortunately not most, in Christian circles think that the stars are alligned correctly and now is the sure time for the apocolypse to begin. Throughout the ages Christians have often said that we are living in the "end times." The conditions of the world being so bad that Jesus must be set to return soon. Interestingly enough Christians always point to an anti-Christ figure arriving on the scene (in this case Obama) who will charm and deceive the world, and this will set the stage for the "great tribulation" period which will result in all sorts of bad things to occur.

Pretty strong assumptions then to make if you think Obama is the anti-Christ. I got a question? Whenever you wish to know something about a particular subject that is of great importance, who do you go to for help? Could it be someone with expertise? I find it distressing that so many people who use the bible to gather information about the future too often try to interpret obscure things without first looking at things are are plain and clear. Take the anti-Christ concept for instance. Did you know that in the new testament the bible only uses the word anti-Christ twice and it is used in the present tense and in the plural. Does this not make it plain that God is telling His people that in the first century many anti-Christs are present and working to attack and deceive God and His church. This is the plain meaning of the text and is it not advisable to interpret texts in the most logical way?

So what does this mean about an anti-Christ person. Does an actual person exists who is greatly powerful and influential that will exert great destruction on the church in the future? I take it that this is a reference to the book of "Revelation" and the "Beast" figure that is spoken of within its pages; one that makes reference to his number being 666. All kinds of things are mentioned in this ominous book; wars, earthquakes, terror, death, persecution. And I do believe Revelation does speak of a particular person who is a type of anti-Christ. However there is one problem with equating Obama with this person. The Beast of Revelation, at least in the plain meaning of the text, is speaking of an event that takes place shortly after John is exiled to the island of Patmos. The events that take place during that time (which is a future event, at least in the sense that it is in the future from the perspective of John) speaks about events that happened to Christians right up until the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 a.d. In fact, a prominent Jewish eyewitness historian "Josephus" writes clearly about that time and it is right in line with how the book of Revelation documents it. And you know who was a central figure during that time to delighted in persecuting and killing Christians? That was Nero whose name in ancient Hebrew spelling placed into Hebrew gematria; converting letters into numbers is 666.

Am I certain that the anti-Christ was Nero? No, but it sure is a heck of a lot more plausible than Barrack Obama and other past figures like Stalin, Hitler, Hussein, or whoever else might dawn of future horizons.

Explaining Terms To The Atheist

There has been much news reporting about the case in Washington state where the governor has permitted some document from atheists that has been placed next to the Nativity scene. There has been much protest and outrage from Christians about this and some have suggested that the governor is permitting "hate speech" directed at people of faith and Christians in particular. There are references in this document about religion being superstitious, enslaving and dulling minds, and a host of others that are outraging Christians during this advent season.

I could easily put my two cents in on what I think about the winter solstice atheist document and whether it belongs next to the nativity on government property, but I have something else on my mind. On a talk show a woman representing "The Freedom From Religion Foundation" said that her organization is not about hating anyone but she is just against Christianity, a religion she said and I don't have her exact quote but it was something close to this: Man is a depraved sinner who is in need of redemption and anyone unwilling to Jesus Christ as Savior then will be doomed to hell.

That quote struck me because it was theological and accurate and as I heard this woman say it I could see she didn't like the idea at all. So I have been thinking about just how to explain that quote and define all its heavy terms; depraved, sinner, redemption, savior, hell. This is a tall order and I realize that there is a strong probability that whatever she hears will not make her pleased in the slightest. Still she deserves an answer. And I think it is a just as important to acknowledge that in a world where we wish things would be much better and we could all somehow find a way to get along, the message of Christianity would seem like a sure fire way to piss many folks off.

I'm not sure where to go with this and I think I would tell anyone who defined Christianity in those terms that, yes, it is true. But I would go further on and ask them how do they define those terms and what makes the content of those terms so offensive. But perhaps exploring too much may not be beneficial. Can we instead sit and share coffee or a beer and just get to know each other. Though our thinking may be drastically different on the matter of faith, we still share much in common as human beings.

Sex And The Fall

For those who believe in the biblical fall, I'm speaking of the fruit incident of Adam and Eve in the garden, I can't imagine anything more affected by the fall than human sexuality. I'm putting this on my blog because I find there is a big barrier when discussing Christ and the church to skeptics and that is the barrier of human sexuality; perhaps the biggest being homosexuality and orthodox Christianity's position on the matter.

Perhaps some of this tension is that many in religious circles seem to have a fetish with anything outside the norm of human sexuality and are quick to throw the bombs regarding anything that the bible prohibits regarding sexual behavior. I can't say that it is wrong to mention that the scriptures equate homosexual practice with being an abomination, I just wonder if it is wise to throw George Foreman knockout punches so early in "the cultural war" so to speak. If we are thoughtful people isn't it wise to see how people may get to a particular place in their lives before we go around telling them to do the "turn or burn" thing.

Over the years I've had some pretty open discussions with some of my male friends regarding sex. One of the big things we have in common is how guys find it so hot when they see attractive women doing the lesbian tango. We are all well versed in biblical protocol of what is acceptable human sexual practice yet we all get a rise so to speak when we imagine this sexual practice.

I'll even go a little further. We know from data that many women themselves have fantasies about sex with women, and these are not confined to those who are outside Christian circles, they are "redeemed" church folk who have had their minds renewed and know the goodness and mercies of God. And while many men won't talk about it, and since I put myself on the line with this "Faith Unfiltered" idea, I can get caught up in homoerotic fantasies now and again. Heck there are some studs on the "Men's Fitness" magazine covers, no?

What is my point? Well, more than anything, it's just that sex is a complicated thing. And since God has left us here in a fallen world and since even His own people have not near reached the perfected state of holiness, sex is going to manifest itself in many unique, perverse ways. Certainly we should not encourage or somehow endorse a practice that goes against what God says is clearly wrong, still we have to treat sex (in all fairness) the way we treat so many other of our human frailties and sins.

Sin does exist that is for sure. But people's propensity for particular sins is complex. We need to show care and patience for those in a particular lifestyle that they don't want to hear is bad for them. We do need to speak truth in love but we need to realize that life is so often based on an economic model rather than an ethical one; meaning people do things that work. It may not be helpful long term but many of us (both believer and unbeliever only see the here and now). People who are in need of a love relationship (even if sin has screw them up to the proper understanding of what that means) will enter a relationship whether it is appropriate of not. People see something as certainly better than nothing.

In the arena of pornography (something Christians may identify better than homosexuality) when times get tough in a marriage and for whatever reason the sex becomes dry and predictable, the right thing to do (the ethical model) would be to turn to God and see Him out and pray for wisdom to turn the marriage around. Surely though there are many who maybe turn to the billion dollar porn industry to spice up a marriage and even get a woman to perhaps have an orgasm where she hasn't had one before (an economic fix).

The bible is something that we who believe in it should never fear to use with our friends who know little if any of it's extraordinary riches. But used in the wrong way, with the wrong attitude, and most importantly with little compassion to the complexities that sin and our culture bring to those outside those of the Household of Faith is like a boxer out throwing bombs when he hasn't established a jab.

Simple Things

Funny how feelings can change so much with just simple things. Life has been hard for me of late, and actually still is. In fact, all information from my previous post..."I don't know what to do" is still the same. And it stands to reason that when things are tough, your feelings would follow and also be down in the dumps. Just going about the everyday business of life is hard. But the last couple of days I have felt much better.

It all happened Tuesday evening at my son's high school football playoff game. I'd love to say they won (but they lost 31-20) and that they would be playing in the championship game this Sunday. But there was a turning point in the game that was exhilarating. Playing an undefeated team and being underdog doesn't relieve the pain of getting slaughtered in any sporting event. Well midway into the 3rd quarter my son and his high school team were losing 28-0 and it looked like it would only get worse. Then something happened. My son who is only a freshman and gets limited playing time was put into the game to return a kick. This was a big surprise since the coach had a policy of not putting freshmen in to return kicks (no matter how good or fast they are) because of previous examples of good freshmen fumbling kicks in the past, one in particular who made a crucial fumble in a playoff game.

But my son who had been lobbying furiously (he can be quite a pest) to the coaches to put him in got his wish when it was clear the normal returner had been having difficulty with a wrist injury and now with the score 28-0 how could things really get worse. That's when electricity happened. A kickoff to the 20 yard line went straight into Josh's hands. Seeing the line of traffic he found a crease (opening, in normal non football jargon) and burst straight into the open field cutting past a couple of defenders and going all 80 yards into the endzone. I can't tell you how exciting it was to see, just about 10 seconds of absolute thrill.

But what happened next was the real excitement. The run not only put our underdog Quakers on the scoreboard but also woke up the whole team from a slumber. A team that had been inept at best for over a half of football, had that deer in the headlights type of look (I have no idea what to do expression) suddenly came alive and showed great purpose. And sure enough it looked like the teams changed uniforms over the next quarter and a half. I would love to say that the story had a Hollywood ending but it didn't. Overcoming 28 points is a tall order for highschool kids. After getting the game back to 28-20, the Quakers missed a critical 4th down with 6 minutes to go and allowed the Tigers to move the ball from the 50 to the 7 yard line with 3 minutes to go. The defense did make a great stop on 3rd down making the Tigers have to kick a 24 yard field goal (no guarantee in high school football. A miss would have given our squad one last chance to launch one last drive to score and get the 2 point conversion and send the game into overtime. But it wasn't meant to be, the field goal was good and hence a 31-20 defeat.

I hate to talk about moral victories but this really was one. A team with only 3 seniors with a 5-4 record trading punches with a 9-0 team packed with loads of seniors. I left the game proud of my son obviously and looking forward to next year. More importantly it lifted my spirits knowing that things really can change even when you don't see how. I remember turning to another parent when the score was 28-0 and how we dreaded having to sit through what looked like what was about to turn into a nightmare (fumbles, penalties, interceptions, total disaster), suddenly turn around instantly because an improbable occurrence (my son getting into the game returning kicks which he told me would never happen) actually took place. These things happen in life and much more often than we realize. The God who loves us will do all kinds of wonderful things to help us through those times when "we just don't know what to do." And even those simple things like a high school football game can teach us that.